Was Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković responsible for displacing half a million Croatians from Croatia, then replacing them with foreigners? No, that's not true: From 2011 to 2020, statistics from the Official Bureau indicate that 335,595 Croatian citizens moved overseas, while during the same period, 270,806 people immigrated to Croatia. Plenković implemented a measure offering financial incentives to encourage the return of Croatian expatriates, aiming to secure a skilled workforce and promote the repatriation of the active labor force, providing returning Croats the opportunity to receive up to 27,000 euros ($29,226).
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by Marin Miletić on January 20, 2023, under the title (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff) "In Croatia, migrant smugglers run away from the police, break through toll booths and crash into a police vehicle in the center of Zagreb. This is Andrej Plenković's open door policy under the remote control of Brussels." It began (as translated):
And this is what Plenković did for our Croatia under the remote control of Brussels and the globalists. He chased 500,000 Croats out of our country and is filling our country with foreigners.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Feb 20 08:56:39 2024 UTC)
The current population situation in Croatia cannot be attributed to the Great Replacement theory (archived here), which suggests a deliberate effort to decrease the white population of Western nations and favor immigrants, typically of color, to eventually replace native cultures and societies. Rather, Croatia's demographic challenges stem from significant emigration, leading to workforce shortages within the country.
According to data from the Bureau of Statistics (archived here), in the period from 2011 to 2020 a total of 335,595 people moved from Croatia abroad.
(Source: Bureau of Statistics screenshot taken on Tue Feb 20 08:56:39 2024 UTC)
On the other hand, in the same period, a total of 270,806 people moved to Croatia from abroad. This number includes both Croatian nationals and foreign people.
(Source: Bureau of Statistics screenshot taken on Tue Feb 20 09:00:33 2024 UTC)
Moreover, in 2021, Plenković introduced a new initiative named "I Choose Croatia" (archived here). This initiative is designed to incentivize the repatriation of emigrants, promote entrepreneurship in their home country through financial support and address population decline in regions heavily affected by emigration. It offers people returning to Croatia from abroad a financial package ranging from 3,500 euros ($3,789) to a maximum of 27,000 euros, depending on various criteria. Despite its implementation in 2022, as of 2024 fewer than 300 (archived here) people made use of this opportunity.
Additional fact checks by Lead Stories regarding topics concerning the population replacement theory and migrants in Croatia can be found here.
